Author

Yolanda D. Heman-Ackah, MD

Dr. Heman-Ackah is a laryngologist who specializes in professional voice care. She is board certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology and is a fellow of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and her Doctor of Medicine degree from Northwestern University as part of the Honors Program in Medical Education. Following her residency in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the University of Minnesota, she completed a fellowship in professional voice care and laryngology under the preceptorship of Robert Thayer Sataloff, M.D., D.M.A., in Philadelphia. She then founded and was the director of the Voice Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Currently, she is in private practice in association with Drs. Robert Thayer Sataloff, Karen M. Lyons, and Stephen Goldstein in Philadelphia. She also is Assistant Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and she is the National Medical Advisor for the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA).

Dr. Heman-Ackah has received awards and recognition for her research investigating the laryngeal chemoreflex, including an award from the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and research grants from the American Laryngological Association and the American Voice and Research Education Foundation.

She has authored or co-authored numerous publications, including award-winning journal articles and book chapters, as well as this book.

She is a member of the editorial board of the Journal and Voice and other medical journals and she is actively involved in the Voice Foundation, the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), the Voice and Speech Trainers Association, the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.